Brands BSB: Haslam targets wins after Suzuka podium
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03/08/2016
JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam has targeted wins at this weekend’s MCE British Superbike double-header as he jets in after taking second place at the iconic Suzuka Eight-Hours.
Haslam was consistently the fastest of the works Kawasaki riders and was honoured with riding for the final hour but found himself having to contend with a charging Josh Brookes and fuel management issues.
“I started with a 16 second gap over Suzuki, but I wasn’t allowed to run full throttle, and I had to short-shift all my gears. Then it came down to ten seconds, then I got a bit worried so I pushed on and got it back up to 15 quite quick,” Haslam told Bikesport News when he landed at Heathrow.
“In the end we kept it at about 12-13 seconds without having to push too hard. And after we finished the cool down lap, as I was coming into the pits it ran out of fuel, so that was quite good. It was about managing the last hour in the dark more than anything else. Trying to see the pit board, trying not to let the gap drop too much and at the same time trying not to use full throttle…”
He was happy with his lap times too. “I set the second-fastest time at the whole Eight-Hours, out of everyone there. It’s all about getting through traffic and maintaining a lap time I still did a 2’09.4 on my 25th lap, so my consistency all weekend and the lap times themselves came relatively easy.”
Now Haslam returns to his BSB-spec Kawasaki and is targeting wins this weekend at Brands Hatch. The team have done some dyno work on the engines and team-mate James Ellison is testing today and tomorrow to fine tune them.
“The bike has been aggressive to ride in recent rounds which has had an effect on tyre wear. There is another area on my bike that isn’t right even compared to James’ and Pete’s but I am hoping there will be big step forward for Brands,” he added.
“The Kawasaki should go well there, it should be an ideal circuit for us so the expectation is to get on the top step of the circuit with a bike that should perform a lot better.”
